The Flowers of Springtime

Can I admit something to you? I believe I have an addiction...an addiction to spring. All it takes is one incredibly sunny day, followed by a flower or two brave enough to bloom, and I'm done for! Out in the dirt I go to play...planting, transplanting, pulling weeds, surveying the land (my backyard flowerbeds).

Sounds like I've been a gardener forever, huh? Well, I'd like to think so, but sadly, I have killed more plants I've planted then actually watch them grow from year to year. I am proud to report that my thumbs are tending to get "greener" with each passing year! I have a passion for color, texture, and a pleasant scene to look at when I sit on my porch...which has opened up this whole road to gardening. God has graciously given me a little more skill in the growing area, and a whole lot more patience in the watering area...so the yard is really coming along!

Over the years of many moves (thanks to our military lifestyle), I've planted many, many things. I've even watched some plants survive a season! And then, on even rarer occasions, we have still lived in the same house the following season, and the plants have popped up out of the ground to couragiously try to survive yet another year. It is thrilling to see the planting experiments come back to life in the spring - just like my passion for warm days and colorful views.

It's like the hibernation has been shaken off with the final chill of winter, and at the same moment, we both (me and the plants) perk up, rub the sleep out of our eyes, and stretch to the sky with a big praise to heaven for the warm sun on our faces! Oh, yes, I am truly addicted to spring. But the questions is this: how does such an addiction become a "God thing"?

I believe that this type of passion, addiction, or madness (whatever term you prefer) can be a very wonderful thing - if we acknowledge Who it is that has created the view, and Who it is that has given us a passion for viewing His creation. God, the Author and Creator of all things, who has made all things, and created us to worship Him and enjoy Him forever, took the time to make sure we would have an environment that we would love to look at - and praise Him for!

Yes, I am a "Jesus chick" who praises God for creation, and even for the flowers He has created. I can stare at the wind brushing through the trees for lengths of time, reflecting on how the Holy Spirit moves us in similar ways...(not mistakenly thinking that God is the tree, or is the flower, but that He, who created the tree and the flower loves us, and He is mindful of us.)

God wants us to enjoy His creation. He wants us to rush outside on a spring day and feel the sun on our face. He wants us to dig in the dirt - and to even take a moment to remember that Adam, and the beginning of the whole human race, was created, by God, out of a patch of dirt.

As you and I are digging in our garden, what a thought to remember...the very dirt that gives nutrients to the plants we enjoy is the same stuff that God used to make Adam so long ago in a garden far far away. The beauty that we see in the flowers that are surrounded by that dirt is the same beauty I believe God sees in us when He looks down from the heavenlies, His eyes roaming the earth to and fro, looking upon His children.

God created.
God deserves praise.
We get to have an excuse for playing in the dirt.
What more is there to life?

Go play, and go praise!

Much love in Christ,

JD